Events
The Warkworth Feast
‘The Warkworth Feast’ has its roots in the late 13th century when King Edward 1 granted to Robert Fitz Roger a market and fair in Warkworth in 1291. This feast was run over three days- the eve, the day, and the morrow of the feast of St. Lawrence (10th of August).
The festival continued over the centuries and became something of a regional event being described in several songs and poems through the ages. By the 1850s this was quite an event with cheap rail tickets and special steamer sailings organised to bring people from Newcastle up to the village, as described in the press cliping opposite.; the highlight for local society being the Ball held at the Sun Inn.
In 1859, The Warkworth Floral and Horticultural Society Exhibition was held alongside the feast and with the Duke’s permission in the Castle grounds. Sometime in the 1900s there was a further name change to encompass new classes of exhibitor and 1994 saw the 123rd running of the event now known as The Warkworth Floral, Horticultural and Industrial Society Exhibition; sadly, it seems by then to have lost many of The Feast attributes. Thankfully in 1995 the name was simplified to The Warkworth Flower Show.
In 2004 the name was further simplified to The Warkworth Show to cover the broader range of activities and has been known as either Warkworth Show or The Warkworth Show since.